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Book Giveaway: Daniyal Mueenuddin's "In Other Rooms, Other Wonders"
Filed under: Letters & Challenges Tagged: Daniyal Mueenuddin
Martin Schneider writes:
Emdashes is pleased to be hosting a book giveaway this week, for In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, Daniyal Mueenuddin's first collection of short stories, which is being released today. Mueenuddin has had three stories in The New Yorker over the last two years, and there's every reason to think that he will be a writer to watch for some time to come. As an example, here's Publishers Weekly's review of the book:
In eight beautifully crafted, interconnected stories, Mueenuddin explores the cutthroat feudal society in which a rich Lahore landowner is entrenched. A complicated network of patronage undergirds the micro-society of servants, families and opportunists surrounding wealthy patron K.K. Harouni. In "Nawabdin Electrician," Harouni's indispensable electrician, Nawab, excels at his work and at home, raising 12 daughters and one son by virtue of his cunning and ingenuity-qualities that allow him to triumph over entrenched poverty and outlive a robber bent on stealing his livelihood. Women are especially vulnerable without the protection of family and marriage ties, as the protagonist of "Saleema" learns: a maid in the Harouni mansion who cultivates a love affair with an older servant, Saleema is left with a baby and without recourse when he must honor his first family and renounce her. Similarly, the women who become lovers of powerful men, as in the title story and in "Provide, Provide," fall into disgrace and poverty with the death of their patrons. An elegant stylist with a light touch, Mueenuddin invites the reader to a richly human, wondrous experience.
Here are the rules: Drop us an email, subject line "NAWABDIN ELECTRICIAN" and please include your name and full mailing address. We'll take all entries until 8:00 pm EST on Friday, February 13, and then the Random Number Generator will make its merciless decision. And good luck to all entrants!
About us
Hello! I’m Emily Gordon, an editor, critic, copywriter, and pre-web internet nut. Emdashes, born in 2004, spent many years as a New Yorker fan blog. The project garnered some nice compliments and press.
The blog’s now treading the territories of punctuation, publications, movies, design, and other things that stir me.
Over the years, I’ve worked with a brilliant brigade of culture writers, editors, and artists. You can read all about the people who've helped build Emdashes here at “Who We?” (That’s a New Yorker joke. Old habits die hard.)
I welcome submissions, questions, corrections, and ardent, obsessive contributors. I also host occasional book-related contests and giveaways. Questioners and publishers, just email me.
Looking for The New Yorker magazine or newyorker.com? Kudos on your classy taste. Here’s how to find and contact The New Yorker.
Tell me more
Dashes, some say, “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like the em dash itself—provides a thoughtful pause amid the hubbub.
Unsigned posts are by me; other columnists and contributors include Martin Schneider, Pollux, Jonathan Taylor, and Benjamin Chambers, plus various guest stars.
The site was designed by House of Pretty with illustrations by Jesse R. Ewing.
Additional drawings are by Carolita Johnson and Pollux (author of Emdashes webcomic “The Wavy Rule”).
Jennifer Hadley designed the original Emdashes pencil logo, based on a 1943 Dorothy Gray ad.
Some writing by Emily Gordon
- Liveblogging: the 2013 Street Fight Summit, a conference on hyperlocal business
- Reviews: as a theater critic at Time Out Chicago
- Profile: Valerie Casey, Designers Accord founder, is spearheading the design of sustainability (for SXSW World)
- Feature: Rea Irvin: visionary art director, bon vivant, New Yorker founding father (for Print)
- At the scene: a festive downpour at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade; celebrating the lindy-hop legend Frankie Manning (for NYCgo.com)
- Feature: Muslim immigration iconography in the Netherlands, and an interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali (for Print)
- Inquiry: Does a New Republic redesign mean a change of tune? (for Print)
- Interview: James Surowiecki on what's next for the wisdom of crowds (for Assignment Zero)
- Profiles: rising designers under 30 (for Print)
{Some more clips to snack on, pending a redesign of this whole clips business}
Blogroll highlights
- The Beautiful Sentence and Obscure Controversies (Emily’s distractions)
- Box Office Boffo (Martin Schneider on movies)
- World of Pollux (artist Paul Morris)
- Jonathan Taylor (scholar and critic)
- Carolita Johnson (cartoonist and rabble-rouser)
- My 2004-era blogroll (still current-ish!)
- Follow Emily on Twitter
- Befriend Emdashes on Facebook
- Get Emdashes swag at the CafePress emporium
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Everything you tell or send me is off the record unless I ask for your permission to use it.
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